Summer 2011 Family Focus - West Midland Family Center

WEST MIDLAND FAMILY CENTER
P.O. Box 1985
Midland MI 48641-1985
NONPROFIT
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
MIDLAND, MI
Playground Expansion!
PERMIT NO. 153
VOLUME 22, NUMBER 1 • P.O. Box 1985 • Midland, MI 48641-1985 • wmfc.org • (989) 832-3256 • Summer 2011
Community Benefits Because So Many Others Help at WMFC!
by Greg Dorrien
(From left to right) Dick Peterson, Ben Dollard and
Alan Oman all Midland Kiwanis Club members
installing new Bongo Climber
Playground Expansion supporters:
Michigan Baseball Foundation
Midland Rotary Club
Midland Morning Rotary Club
Rotary International District 6310
Kiwassee Kiwanis Foundation
Kiwassee Kiwanis Club
Midland Kiwanis Club
Midland Kiwanis Foundation
Home Depot Team Demonstrates True Community Spirit
With the heat index at 103 degrees, 80
volunteers from Home Depots – “Team
Depot” descended upon West Midland
Family Center: Their mission was to
build 50 picnic tables and 50 benches
for various Midland County non-profits.
Volunteers from as far away as Lapeer, Clio
and Goodrich began arriving at 7:00 a.m.
and they worked until their sizeable
task was accomplished at 3:00 p.m.
According to Judy Custer, District Leader
of Team Depot this is one of her
favorite parts of her job. “Every year we do
four of these volunteer builds. We are all from
different stores and we come together as a
team to give back to the larger community.”
Judy researched local non-profits and
became intrigued by West Midland. From
there she worked with WMFC Director,
Greg Dorrien to develop the project. Home
Depot donated $7,000 of materials for the
picnic tables and benches and another $7,000
of materials to build a 30’ x 60’ picnic
pavilion that will be constructed by additional
volunteer groups at West Midland Family
Center yet this summer.
WMFC Executive Director, Greg Dorrien speaking
on collaboration at The Rock Youth Center’s
annual meeting
Almost every local funding source has the
following question in their grant application: Who in the community provides similar services to the community? Our standard
response is: No other agency provides the
intense level of comprehensive services to
families in the western portion of Midland
County. Since possession is 90% of the law,
we feel very comfortable with this response.
That’s not to say we’re the only organization that is providing services to families…
indeed many collaborating organizations help
us provide services that allows us to be much
more effective at accomplishing our mission.
The following list is only a partial list of the
collaborative partners that help us provide
direct service to the community.
Midland County Emergency Food Pantry
Network, Mid Michigan Community Action
Agency, Midland County Council on Aging
(Senior Services). KINDER CARE, MSU Cooperative Extension Services, Catholic Family Services, Bullock Creek Schools, Midland
County Quality Preschool Collaborative,
The Rock Youth Center, Midland Area
Partnership for Drug Free Youth, Legacy Center for Student Success, Coleman
Public Schools, Helping Hands Dental
Center, Midland County Parks and Recreation, Shepherd Public Schools, The Care
Giving Network, D Street Entertainment,
Meridian Public Schools, Hidden Harvest, MITCON, RED CROSS, Midland /
Gladwin Community Mental Health, Midland County: including the Department of
Human Services and the County Health
Department, Big Brothers/Big Sisters,
Chippewa Nature Center, Central Michigan
University, Northwood University, County
Connection, Education Training Connection,
Gateway Martial Arts, Grace A. Dow
Library, United Way ~ GOvolunteerNOW,
Affiliates of Greater Midland Community
Centers, Midland County ESA including the
Success by Six Partnership, Safe and Sound
Child Advocacy Center, Shelterhouse. This
list does not include individuals and organizations that primarily provide funding or
in-kind donations which support service provision…you will find that DONORS LIST
located on the inside pages of this Family
Focus.
Like all WMFC Volunteers~Board Members Bring Distinctive Skills
Among West Midland’s extraordinarily
committed volunteers are the members of
the WMFC Board of Directors. This
eleven-member board meets bi-monthly
with each member holding an additional
standing committees role. Standing
committees include: Accounting and Budget,
Investment, Human Resources, Facilities
Management, Communications and the
Program Activities Committee. At the first
Board meeting of each year, new volunteer
Board members are elected for a three-year
term. This year’s new members bring individualized talents to an already vital Board
of Directors. Both are welcome additions.
New Board member, Myra Dean will be
featured in an in an upcoming issue of the
Focus. In this issue we present Ann Schmitz.
Home Depot Team Members Assembling One of Fifty Picnic Tables
Meet: Ann Schmitz
Ann Schmitz currently is Total Compensation Manager at MidMichigan Health, where
she has worked for five years, managing the
compensation and benefits programs for the
health system. Prior to joining MidMichigan Health, Ann worked for 12 years in the
automotive supplier industry as a Human
Resources Manager. Ann is a graduate
of Michigan State University, holding a
bachelor’s degree in Spanish and Russian
and a master’s degree in Labor and Industrial Relations. Ann is also a certified Senior
Professional in Human Resources as
designated by the Human Resource
Certification Institute. She is an instructor for
Saginaw Valley State University, assisting
other HR professionals in preparing for the HR
certification exam. Ann enjoys volunteering her time with the Family Life Council
at Midland First United Methodist Church,
Adams Elementary School and Girl Scouts
Heart of Michigan. She learned about the
opportunity to serve on the West Midland
Family Center Board after participating
in Leadership Midland 2010. She looks
forward to helping make a positive impact
in the lives of families that are served by the
WMFC. Ann and her husband Jim Woehrle
have lived in Midland for 14 years. They
are blessed with two children, Ben and
Hannah, who keep the family active with
school, sports, music and scouting.
Ann Schmitz
WMFC Program Connects Volunteers with Opportunities to Serve
The needs in our community continue to
outnumber the resources available. One
of the best ways to address this issue is for
agencies such as WMFC to partner with
community members who also want to
make a difference. Although volunteers have
always been the backbone of the WMFC
organization, recent changes in program
direction have lead to great progress for the
volunteer program at WMFC. Under the
leadership of Program Director, Gail Crosby,
volunteer efforts are growing by leaps and
bounds. Thanks to Gail, the newly designated
Connect and Serve Program has an
exciting, streamlined and efficient means
by which WMFC recruits, places, trains and
retains volunteers.
that speaks to your heart rather than
just volunteering for the sake of doing
the work.” “Connect and Serve isn’t
just about doing volunteer - time.” “One
of the goals of the Connect and Serve program is to match volunteers to opportunities
that utilize their unique skills and ignite their
passions.”
Many of WMFC’s Connect and Serve
volunteer roles are “customized” to allow
for a very specific fit so the volunteer
as well as the community benefit.
According to Gail Crosby, “It’s much
more exciting to volunteer in an area
it more interesting. I get a great deal of satisfaction helping this non-profit in their quest
to save energy and a buck. We’ve done a
great deal to cut costs.” Jeff concurred saying, “Since Greg has been working with
us, we have researched many ways to trim
dollars off of the budget while conserving
energy. We have been successful on that
level with the building lighting. By changing all of the lights and ballasts in the building, we are getting more and better quality
lighting while saving the Family Center up
to $530.00 per month on the electric bill!
Jeff continued, “Given my current workload, there would be no way possible I could
have explored these valuable money savings
options, and implemented these changes
without help. Greg has been a valuable asset
to WMFC.” If you are interested in partnering at WMFC go to GOvolunteerNOW.org
or contact Gail Crosby, Connect and Serve
Director, at 832-3256 or crosbyg@wmfc.
org.
Karen, diligently volunteers sorting
donated clothing
Marni, a multi-tasking office volunteer
Greg Janoch has been working with WMFC
Maintenance Director, Jeff Myers, and had
this to say about his volunteer experience.
“I’ve been working at WMFC for about a
year and a half helping the Family Center in
its attempt to become more energy efficient.
My background is in chemical engineering however, I’m very interested in energy
conservation so working with Jeff has been
a learning experience for me which makes
Greg and Jeff analyze a temperature control sheet
to discover greater energy efficiency
Every Day is Prevention Day At West Midland Family Center
At WMFC the system around which all else
develops are the family programs and the
resulting prevention efforts.
Child abuse prevention and family enrichment is what happens every day at WMFC.
Benjamin gets ready to cross the “treacherous”
Bongo Climber
It is woven into in every aspect of service
at the Family Center. Always thinking of
prevention means our Family Services staff
members approach parents non-judgmentally and with acceptance regardless of how or
why a parent comes to the Family Center.
An environment complete with respect and
consideration encourages parents to become
involved and share their concerns. WMFC
Family Services staff members prove to parents that if they ask for help they will receive
the assistance needed to become better
parents. According to Renee Young, WMFC
Family Services Director, “Staff members
approach parents with the belief that they
want to take good care of their children.
They just may not know how, their own
parents may have role-modeled improper
parenting.”
The more public face of child abuse prevention at the Family Center comes in the form
of Parent Education. According to Young,
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..... names of all benefactors are listed in black print
Given by John Reder in Honor of:
Jeffrey and Torrey Derocher
Bart and Michelle Dexter
Patricia Fritz
David and Louise Ganus
Michael and Kerry Goodall
H. Grant Helms
Brad and Shelly Hobbs
Delbert and Kay Joslin
Terry and Beth Jungel
Lewis and Colleen Landon
James and Kathy McCandless
Jessee and Jennifer Milks
Kyran Miller and Staff
William and Marcia Reder
Joanne Stange
David Stephens
Scott Stephenson
Michael and Sherrie Sutherland
Vincent and Mary Szilagyi
Rodney and Sandy Wagoner
David and Kathleen Warren
Leonard Wilkuski
In Memory of Phyllis Breedlove
Brandi Allensworth
Richard & Mair Alsgaard
Larry Blubaugh
Gary & Kathy Breedlove-Francis
Norma Brien
Charles & Pamela Bunting
Stuart & Shirlie Campbell
Larry & Carol Cotter
Nancy Cotter
Ron Cotter
Tom & Linda Cotter
Diane DeMott
Greg & Robyn Dorrien
Bob & MaryAnn Dostal
Keith Francis
Robert & Suzanne Francis
Dorothy Furst
James & Norma Gandy
Helen Garno
Shirleen Gepford
Don Hackett
Earl & Alma Hoon
Ollie Leigeb
Ben Little
Tom & Elsie Misner
Doug & Dana Moore
Eric & Connie Moore
Charles & Ellen Peterson
Dean Plummer
James & Patricia Prewozniak
MaryKay & Arnie Price
Roger & Sandra Price
Greg & Sally Schmidt
Cynthia Zacharias & Scott Richardson
Katherine Zacharias
Win Zacharias
In Memory of Irma Butenschoen
Carl Coons
In Memory of Margi Butenschoen
Carl Coons
In Memory of Tom Dostal
Etcyl & Ruth Blair
Jeffrey & Susan Meath
In Memory of Dorthy Hartman
Barbara Sovereen
In Memory of Robert Jones Jr.
Lowell & Catherine Lindy
In Memory of Howard Klem
Charles & Connie Blanchard
In Memory of Vera Ellen LaFore
Lowell & Catherine Lindy
In Memory of Diana Macdougald
Sharon Maxwell
Barbara Pauli
Barbara Sovereen
In Memory of Bob Post
Earl & Alma Hoon
In Memory of Jacques Sabrie
John Reder
In Memory of Hershel (Jerry) Schaar
Karen Schaar
In Memory of J.R. (Dirk) Sinclair
Thomas & Roberta Sinclair
In Memory of Elizabeth Wilson
Lowell & Catherine Lindy
In Memory of an anonymous benefactor
David Bailey
Bailey Insurance
Irene Beshgetoor
Judith Dean
Greg & Robyn Dorrien
Jeffery Dulude
Richard & Chris Ferrando
Mike & Karen Ford
David & Andra Ginis
Cal & Marilyn Goeders
Roger & Virginia Gohrband
Jeremy Goldsworthy
Richard & Suzanne Heiny
Gloria Holm
Mike & Tina Hoy
Terry & Barbara Johnson
George & Margaret Klumb
Paal & Chris Klykken
Bob & Marilyn Kuhn
E. Roland Laning
Pete & Gloria Lehman
Ted & Kay Lunt
Lawrence & Jillian Malan
Sharon Maxwell
Merritt & Joyce Meeks
Mike & Grace Merrill
Tom & Elsie Misner
Donna Morris
Virginia Prince
Doug & Barbara Rausch
Rosalie Repucci
Bill & Pat Smith
Gilbert & Madesta Stevens
Alice Strack
Raymond & Jacqueline Stubbs
Thayre & Katie Talcott
Ronald & Courtney Thompsom
Jo Warner
Win Zacharias
Barbara Zimmerman
Every Day is Prevention.... Continued from page 2
classes, i.e., Capable Kids are offered which
are more instructional in nature with a skills
development focus using the Dr. Becky
Baily’s Conscious Discipline curriculum.
Dr. Baily’s concepts are taught in class and
then reinforced by Family Mentors (WMFC
Family Services staff members who, in
a nutshell, serve as good parenting role
models.)
Isaiah - such a happy boy
“WMFC offers Parent Education classes
based on family need.” These classes are
topical in nature covering subjects from
budgeting, to blended families, parenting teenagers to anger management. Other
.... Continued on page 3
Parent, Sharla Partin is a strong advocate
of the Capable Kids program. She and
fiancée Randon Leser have found Capable
Kids to be very helpful. “The Conscious
Discipline curriculum has given us many
helpful tools to make parenting easier.”
These lessons have helped Randon and
I do things differently. For example, we
make sure to notice the positive intent
behind our children’s behaviors and
even that of each other. We have found
the lessons on maintaining composure
to be especially helpful and have learned
that the best time to discipline our children is when everyone has had an
opportunity to calm down a bit. Rather than
addressing an issue in the heat of the
moment, we now have the child go to his
or her ‘safe spot’ until he or she is feeling
better. When we are all feeling better, we
talk about what happened and how it should
be handled.” Clearly, a valuable lesson for
us all.
Sharla, Zachary and Randon